Sir, - Eric Dempsey (December 1st) is certainly entitled to clean, punctual buses and to a measure of respect from the company running them, but I am at a loss to understand why he thinks he will get those things from private operators.
Unfortunately, there is a tension in all bus companies between the comfort of the passengers and the profit of the company. This is simply due to the fact that efficient bus companies are labour intensive, and thus payroll heavy. In order to guarantee service it is necessary for a bus company to keep so-called "spare staff" on stand-by to plug holes that may open up in schedules during the day. Unfortunately for the bean counters, these staff have to be paid whether they work or not. Does anybody seriously believe that any private operator is going to pay staff to sit around the canteen playing cards while waiting for a call that may or may not come?
Perhaps it's time to stop looking at buses as badly-run businesses and to start looking at them as a public service, like ambulances or the fire brigade. Nobody expects a profit from these areas, but we pay for them because we consider them necessary to a well-run city. Why do we not take the same attitude to buses? The average European subvention for bus services is 55 per cent; in Dublin it is barely 11 per cent. That, basically, is the reason why Mr Dempsey's bus is often late and dirty, and no private operator is going to run it any better without the finance to do so. You know what they say about paying peanuts . . . - Yours, etc.,
David Smith, Artane, Dublin 5.